The Gnostic Imagination: Gnosticism, Mandaeism and Merkabah Mysticism (Brill's Series in Jewish Studies) [Hardcover]

Nathaniel Deutsch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1995 | Series: Brill's Series in Jewish Studies

This text provides a study of the relationship between Gnosticism and Merkabah mysticism. It includes an analysis of Gershom Scholem's views on the subject, an analytical survey of other secondary literature and a focused examination of primary sources. The work explores a wide range of topics including myth, exegesis, ascent traditions and cosmology. Although the main focus is on western Gnostic traditions and Merkabah mysticism, the book also includes relevant material from Mandaeism and from later stages of Jewish mysticism such as German Pietism and Kabbalah.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 163 pages
• Publisher: Brill Academic Pub (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9004102647
• ISBN-13: 978-9004102644
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,183,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE AUTHORITY ON MERKABAH MYSTICISM, March 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Gnostic Imagination: Gnosticism, Mandaeism and Merkabah Mysticism (Brill's Series in Jewish Studies) (Hardcover)

This book is a necessity for any serious religious scholar. It is the definitive text on the relationship between Merkabah Mysticism and Gnosticism. An important addition to religious knowledge

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gnostic Rabbis or Rabbinic Gnosticism?, January 23, 2003

By 

benjamin (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gnostic Imagination: Gnosticism, Mandaeism and Merkabah Mysticism (Brill's Series in Jewish Studies) (Hardcover)

In the earlier part of the 20th century, Jewish historian Gershom Scholem posited that Hekhalot and Merkavah mysticism - a mystical movement that arose in Rabbinic Judaism in the 2nd and 3rd centuries - was, in fact, a form of Jewish Gnosticism. Furthermore, Scholem proposed that this Jewish Gnosticism was also the mysticism that was practiced by the same orthodox rabbis that produced the Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrashim. Scholem's thesis has been debated ever since, and this is where Deutsch's book comes in to help clarify the relationship between Gnosticism and Hekhalot and Merkavah mysticism.

Despite some of the basic similarities (such as heavenly ascent) between Gnosticism and Hekhalot and Merkavah mysticism, there are also serious differences, such as the way that they understand the Hebrew Bible (Gnosticism denigrated it, while Hekhalot and Merkavah mystics held it in high regard). Deutsch points out that when Gnostic texts are analyzed and compared to Hekhalot and Merkavah texts, it is only a few of the Gnostic texts that really seem to have parallels to those in the Hekhalot and Merkavah corpus. And, those texts that do look related may be related because they were influenced by the Hekhalot and Merkavah texts, not the other way around.

How, then, are we to understand the relationship between Gnosticism and Hekhalot and Merkavah mysticism? Deutsch proposes that the best way to study these texts is to look at them from a comparative standpoint of how each group approached the sacred. It is only then that the similarities and differences will be revealed to a greater extent because, as Deutsch puts it, "only a framework can be constructed on the foundation of the available evidence." (p. 150)

Once someone reads a book like Joseph Dan's _The Ancient Jewish Mysticism_, I would recommend a book like this, which provides a detailed analysis of some of the debates within the field of Hekhalot and Merkavah mysticism. Deutsch pays attention to detail and argues his points persuasively. In the end, the evidence for Hekhalot and Merkavah mysticism being Jewish Gnosticism looks weak. But, although there was probably no unified Rabbinic Gnosticism, there probably were some Gnostic rabbis who helped to shape the movement that produced the Hekhalot and Merkavah mystical texts.

4.0 out of 5 stars The Gnostic Imagination, November 5, 2009

By 

javafusion - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gnostic Imagination: Gnosticism, Mandaeism and Merkabah Mysticism (Brill's Series in Jewish Studies) (Hardcover)

One of the primary goals of the present work is to identify, examine, and compare the views of Scholem and other scholars on the relationship of Gnosticism and Merkabah mysticism. The content and contribution of this study, therefore, is bibliographic as well as explicatory. For this reason, the author frequently allows other scholars, and in particular Scholem, to express their views to the reader directly, as it were, through the explicit quotation of their work, rather than its mere citation. Furthermore, in order to better compare and contrast the writings of Scholem and other scholars, the author initially focuses on Scholem's views on a particular topic, and only then analyzes different opinions on the same issue, including scholarly criticism of Scholem's position.

Finally, for the first time, this study offers a programmatic comparison of Gnosticism and Merkabah mysticism. Its focus covers a wide range of significant issues, including myth, theology, definitions of Gnosticism and Merkabah mysticism, cosmology, exegesis, terminology and epistomology. Of course, the study is not exhaustive but it does make a significant contribution to this fascinating field.